First Ice Of Winter

I got the auger and ice gear out and loaded up for a trip to the plains lakes today in the hopes of finding some rainbows through the hard stuff. The ice condition reports were sounding safe at last and I managed to find a good location to set up and start jigging. Actively working marabou jigs seemed to be what the fish were interested in today. I managed to land two rainbows and had a few other fish go through the holes with some pecking strikes. It felt great to have the crunch of the ice under my boots again. A fairly heavy storm was headed our way so after a couple hours I packed up and made it back to town just as the snow started flying. The winter season is once again here and the fishing prospects are promising.

The approaching storm

My best rainbow on the day

Cold Thanksgiving

We had a wicked cold snap the last two days and now the sun is finally out to warm us back up. The temperature was hitting all of 17 degrees when I decided to take a stroll along the water and see if any trout were out on thanksgiving. I managed to find one little brown trout in the short time I could stand battling the wind and cold. Happy thanksgiving everyone.

Last Stillwater Of The Year

This trip was very likely the last one on any open stillwater for me unless things warm up considerably. The cap is on and its time to break out the ice fishing gear and get tuned up while we wait for it to thicken up to safe ice levels. There were quite a few people out taking advantage of the weather to get in one last trip, and Eric and I took a leisurely lunch at midday to wait out the evening bite. Mornings and evenings seem to be the best and we timed it right again this trip by sitting out in the sun and enjoying the daily lull. I will miss this place until spring unless I can get motivated to try ice fishing it this winter.

Walk At Lunch

I took a nice walk at lunch and the rod went along since it was strung up and ready to fish a leech. A few bumps from willing fish and one little gem to hand made me pay attention to the water. There is no way to know how long this weather will last so I am going to have to keep taking advantage and gett out while I can.